CD Details

Entertainment Reviews:

Rolling Stone - 8/10/95, p.60

"...combine[s] melodic genius and verbal intelligence with grace and ingenuity..."

Entertainment Weekly - 2/24-3/3/95, p.120

"...The sublime tenor, who died [in 1994], left behind a bewilderingly mercurial catalog, ranging from neo-barbershop to Ray Charles-style soul, to kiddie ditties, to rudimentary rock. This collection takes in all that, along with chart-toppers..."- Rating: AVillage Voice (2/20/96) - Tied for #7 on the Reissues list of Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.

To effectively convey the full wonder of Harry Nilsson's songs and recordings, two discs really represent a minimum. PERSONAL BEST includes the hits, along with enough other important album tracks and rarities to make an effective case for the enduring merits of Nilsson (however, anyone interested in a collection of the hits alone should investigate his ALL-TIME GREATEST HITS). Nilsson wrote songs for other artists before breaking into the charts on his own. He was a romantic and jesting writer and stylist of great range and taste. Ironically, over the course of his hit-making years, a couple of his biggest hits were written by others--"Everybody's Talkin'" (by Fred Neil) and "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger). Nilsson was involved in the preparation of this anthology at the time of his early death in 1994.